RED INFILTRATION OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES

* BY J. B. MATTHEWS *

HE 1952 Yearbook^ of American Churches, published by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, informs us that there are 177 Protestant theological seminaries in this country. The most influential of the Protestant clergymen in the United States are trained in these schools. At least fifty-four of these theological seminaries, or slightly more than thirty percent of them, have been infiltrated by the Communistfront apparatus. These figures are based upon public records of the past twelve years. Scornful denials of the success of the Communist strategy in penetrating the ranks of Protestant clergymen do not erase the facts. Church leaders would do well to ponder the following expert testimony of Herbert A. Philbrick: "// is no accident that your church is the number-one target of the Com-

munist conspiracy in America today. The Reds have been flushed from previous cover. For one thing, since the war the Communists have suffered severe setbacks in the field of labor. They have lost control of many unions which they once dominated. Having lost power there, they have sought to gam power in another area and the churches were selected as the target." Such was the observation made by Herbert A. Philbrick in the pages of the Christian Herald in the spring of 1953. In publishing Philbrick's shocking comment on the current strategy of the Communist conspiracy, the Rev. Daniel A. Poling, editor of the Christian Herald, performed an outstanding service for the whole church community of America. It was the sober testimony of a man who knows. It was, as Editor Poling observed, "a story never before revealed of Communist infiltration into America's churches." For the information of those few
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The ^American Mercury

peace," as the Communists themselves describe their fake peace offensive; (2) The repeal of the Internal Security Act of 1950; (3) Amnesty for the Smith Act prisoners, together with agitation for the repeal of the Act; and (4) What the Communists call "the new stage of the Rosenberg fight," the first stage having been a tremendous drive for executive clemency. The front organization is the chief instrumentality by which the Communists hope to achieve success in the four-pronged drive. According to the Congressional Committee on Un-American Activities, "the front organization is Communism's greatest weapon in this country and takes it among the people who would never willingly act as Party agents." Despite this solemn warning of the Congressional Committee on the sinister character of the Communist-front organization, there persists a widespread misunderstanding of the seriousness of a person's collaborating, in any manner whatsoever, with this apparatus of a deadly conspiracy. The sponsoring of one Communist-front organization, the signing of one fake peace petition, or the support of an amnesty appeal for imprisoned Communist leaders may seem trivial to the clergyman who is enticed into such limited activities of the Communist apparatus. They are not considered trivial by the Communists. The Rev. Daniel Poling has related an experience which

Mercury readers who may not be acquainted with the remarkable career of Herbert A. Philbrick, it should be said that he served his country for nine years as a counterspy for the FBI in the top ranks of the Communist Party, and at the end of his perilous experience became a key government witness in the trial of the eleven Communist leaders of the "politburo." In line with what Philbrick wrote about the Communists' "setbacks in the field of labor," the Daily Worker of June 22, 1953, exploded with indignation over the failure of "American labor" to join the Communists in the fight to save the Rosenbergs. Said this American journalistic mouthpiece of the Kremlin conspiracy: "THE ONE QUESTION that people everywhere on the globe ponder today as they discuss the horrible suicidal murder, is, 'Where was American Labor?' They demand and should get an answer. They hear . . . of the thousands of clergymen and rabbis who signed petitions to Eisenhower. But where was that powerful American labor movement?" who is even moderately ^ well informed on the subject of the Communist conspiracy knows that the largest single group supporting the Communist apparatus today is composed of Protestant clergymen. Today's drive of the Communist apparatus in the United States is four-pronged: (1) "The struggle for

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%ed Infiltration of Theological Seminaries is highly significant. In 1943, he was recruited into one of those "friendship" front organizations. Seven years-later, he received a visit from an agent of the FBI who showed him a sheet on which he was listed by the Soviet Embassy in Washington as an American citizen "to be cultivated." Dr. Poling has never been remotely pro-Communist; but his single action in joining a front resulted in his name being placed on a list where no American would be proud to have his name recorded. Dr. Poling's frank recital of his experience should be a warning to those thousands of clergymen who lightly assume the responsibility of aiding and abetting any of the activities of the Communist apparatus. Igor Bogolepov, whose career in the foreign office of the Soviet Union covered a period of almost twenty years, is authority for the statement that the name of every American who joins a Communist front, signs a Communist-inspired petition, or otherwise supports a Communist enterprise is catalogued in Moscow. A one-time joiner or a one-time signer is looked upon as somebody who may be enticed a second time and a third time and eventually turned into a full-fledged fellow traveler. What may seem unimportant to a clergyman whose motives are impeccable is of great importance in the operations of the vast and intricate system of the Communist conspiracy. Clergymen above all others should be aware of the truth of an

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adage that a certain road is paved with good intentions. N ITS current drive to make the churches of America its numberone target, the Communist Party has given special attention to the penetration of the theological seminaries where the clergymen of tomorrow are being trained. The name of a professor from one of the leading theological seminaries is invaluable for the purposes of the Communist conspiracy. The extent to which the Communist apparatus has been successful in enlisting the faculty members of theological seminaries in its activities would shock those who know little or nothing about such matters. It is, of course, impossible within the limits of a single magazine article to do more than illustrate by a few examples the Red infiltration of theological schools. The Congressional Committee on Un-American Activities has labeled the Mid-Century Conference for Peace (May 29-30, 1950) as a part of "the most dangerous hoax ever devised by the international Communist conspiracy." Named on the official program of this gathering were the following professors from theological seminaries: Albert E. Barnett, Garrett Biblical Institute (Methodist) ; George A. Coe, retired, Union Theological Seminary (undenominational); George Dahl, retired, and Halford E. Luccock, Yale University Divinity School (undenomina-

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The ^American Mercury One of the fake devices in the Communists' "struggle for peace" was known as the "World Peace Appeal." The Peace Information Center, a Communist outfit, claimed the following theological seminary professors as signers of the "World Peace Appeal": George A. Coe, retired, Union Theological Seminary; H. Stanley Dunn, Theological Seminary of the Evangelical and Reformed Church; Joseph F. Fletcher, Episcopal Theological School; George Miles Gibson, McCormick Theological Seminary; Ralph W. RUey, President, American Baptist Theological Seminary; Harry F. Ward, retired, Union Theological Seminary; and James D. Wyker, Bible College of Missouri (Disciples).

tional); Purd E. Deitz, Eden Theological Seminary (Evangelical and Reformed); David Dunn and H. Stanley Dunn, Theological Seminary of the Evangelical and Reformed Church; Joseph F. Fletcher, Episcopal Theological School; George Miles Gibson, McCormick Theological Seminary (Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.); Walter M. Horton, Oberlin College Graduate School of Theology (undenominational); Walter G. Muelder, Dean, Boston University School of Theology (Methodist); Frank M. Reid, Dickerson Theological Seminary (African Methodist Episcopal Church); John B. Thompson, University of Chicago Divinity School (American Baptist Convention) ; and Everett C. Herrick, President emeritus, Andover Newton Theological School (American Baptist Convention and Congregational Christian churches). It is not important, for the purposes of Communist propaganda, that some of these theologians have retired, some have moved, and some may by this time be deceased. Not only their names but the names of their seminaries were exploited by the Communists. Some of these theological professors are anti-Communist, some are anti-anti-Communist, and some are decidedly pro-Communist. All of these considerations are beside the point, the sole point being that their names were used in public documents to aid and abet the purposes of the Communist conspiracy.

HE St. Louis Post-Dispatch of October 23, 1951, carried an advertisement which was an open "letter" to Attorney General McGrath in defense of the Civil Rights Congress, a Communist organization which has been exposed again and again. Among the signers of this pro-Communist "open letter" were the following: George A. Coe, retired, Union Theological Seminary; Joseph F. Fletcher, Episcopal Theological School; Paul Lehmann, Princeton Theological Seminary (Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.); and James D. Wyker, Bible College of Missouri. On January 30-31,1953, the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee staged a conference whose forum sessions were held in the First Presby-

1( ed Infiltration of Theological Seminaries terian Church, in New York City. Well in advance of the affair, a group of liberals headed by Prof. George Counts branded the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee as a Communist front. The names of the following theological professors appeared on the program as sponsors: Paul Lehmann and John A. Mackay, Princeton Theological Seminary; Edwin McNeill Poteat, retired, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School (American Baptist Convention); and Paul Scherer, Union Theological Seminary. Of the forty-one sponsors of this pro-Communist conference, seventeen were Protestant clergymen who made up, by far, the largest single group of supporters. The most notorious of all the proSoviet clergymen in the world is the Very Reverend Hewlett Johnson, the "Red Dean of Canterbury." When the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, branded as Communist and subversive by the Attorney General, arranged an American speaking tour for this blatant pro-Soviet apologist, the following theological seminary professors sponsored the tour, according to the publicity of the Communist front: James Luther Adams, Meadville Theological School (Unitarian); Albert E. Barnett, Garrett Biblical Institute; George Dahl, Fleming James, Sr., and Halford E. Luccock, Yale University Divinity School; Joseph F. Fletcher, Episcopal Theological School; Walter G. Muelder, Dean, Boston University School of Theol-

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ogy; Robert Hastings Nichols, Union Theological Seminary; Joseph G. Moore, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (Protestant Episcopal); and John B. Thompson, University of Chicago Divinity School. It would be difficult for a theological seminary professor to get more deeply involved in the operations of the Communist conspiracy than to sponsor this religious fraud, the Dean of Canterbury, upon the American public.

in the history of American Communism have been pushed more aggressively than the campaign to obtain executive clemency for the Communist traitors, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. In this campaign, the Communists boasted the support of the following theological seminary professors: Bernard M. Loomer, Dean, University of Chicago Divinity School; Wayne R. Jones and Walter G. Muelder, Boston University School of Theology; John Oliver Nelson, H. Richard Niebuhr, and Roland H. Bainton, Yale University Divinity School; Paul Scherer, Robert Hastings Nichols, and Arthur L. Swift, Jr., Union Theological Seminary; Irven Paul, Hartford Seminary Foundation (interdenominational) ;and James Luther Adams, Meadville Theological School. On January 13, 1953, the Rev. Edward D. McGowan, a Methodist preacher who is a close collaborator with the Communist apparatus, released an amnesty appeal for the
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^American Mercury eleven Communist Party leaders who were convicted under the Smith Act. McGowan's appeal for leniency for the Communists was purportedly signed by Protestant clergymen exclusively, including the following professors from theological seminaries: Albert Terrill Rasmussen and Wilbur E. Saunders, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School; J. H. Satterwhite, Dean, Hood Theological Seminary (African Methodist Episcopal Zion); Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. and Joseph F. Fletcher, Episcopal Theological School; John Oliver Nelson and Fleming James, Sr., Yale University Divinity School; and LeRoy E. Wright, Yankton College School of Theology (Congregational Christian). On January 19, 1951, the Communist-front organization which has been agitating for the repeal of the Internal Security Act of 1950 released an "open letter" signed by the following professors from theological seminaries: Rufus D. Bowman, Bethany Biblical Seminary (Church of the Brethren); Earl Cranston, University of Southern California School of Religion (Methodist); Walter S. Davison, Auburn Theological Seminary (Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.); Joseph F. Fletcher, Episcopal Theological School; Chester L. Guinn, Garrett Biblical Institute; Everett C. Herrick, President emeritus, Andover Newton Theological School; Fleming James, Sr., Yale University Divinity School; Walter G. Muclder, Boston University School of Theology; Arthur L. Swift, Jr., Paul Tillich, and Harry F. Ward, Union Theological Seminary; John B. Thompson, University of Chicago Divinity School; John A. Mackay, Princeton Theological Seminary; W. Russell Bowie, Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia; and James D. Wyker, Bible College of Missouri. These lists of theological seminary professors who have currently aided and abetted the Communist-front apparatus could be recorded indefinitely. What they mean is that the Communists have been successful not only in enlisting several thousand Protestant clergymen in support of their objectives but also hundreds of those clergymen who are the teachers of tomorrow's ministers of religion. Many of these teachers bear distinguished and influential names in the world of theology. The Kremlin has done its work well. Let those, who will, enter their scornful denials. The facts speak louder than the mealy-mouthed demagogues who believe, mistakenly, that they win the votes of the religious community by defying the record.